North Cascades National Park Service Complex Wilderness Statistics 1998
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Stephen Mather Wilderness
Statistical Summary - 1998

The following summarizes wilderness management statistics for 1998.

The ranger staff of the Wilderness District conducted 157 wilderness patrols during 1998. 17 different persons contributed patrol reports, which covered 35 of the park's 43 trail segments and 15 of the park's 66 cross-country zones at least once. 2,899 hours of patrol time were documented, and 2,911 miles of ground were hiked.

Ranger patrols heard 2,456 overflights (all types of aircraft). Rangers heard aircraft noise for 3,648 minutes over wilderness.

Rangers report that of 321 backcountry groups observed in camp, 298 groups (92.8%) met the park's regulatory requirements regarding proper food storage.

In 1993 data gathering began on using social impacts to a draft set of Level of Acceptable Change (LAC) indicators. In addition to its potential application for establishing and quantifying future LAC indicators, this data has value for determining patrol assignments, evaluating the effectiveness of education efforts, establishing compost toilets, and determining other management actions.

Staff observed 123 piles of toilet paper and/or feces, 53 illegal fire rings, and collected 2,486 pieces of litter.

The Wilderness District ranger staff of 22 employees conducted 157 wilderness patrols covering 2,911 miles in 1998. The following tables represent the numbers of visitors encountered and violations corrected.

The staff observed 229 hiking groups in violation of park regulations (8.0% of all hiking groups encountered), and 4 stock groups in violation (36.4% of stock groups).

The staff observed 298 of 321 (92.8%) groups storing food properly, 23 (7.2%) groups with improper food storage techniques.

There were 54 search and/or rescues documented by case incident report. Total cost: $15,610 ($4,235 in programmed, $11,375 in unprogrammed costs). There were no fatalities and 8 injuries or illnesses.

The Wilderness has 36 stock campsites (11% of all Wilderness campsites)located at 29 camps. The number of permits issued to stock groups was 18 groups consisting of 17 users and 90 stock (average party size 5 stock).

Backcountry overnight use was 35,342 visitor nights. This represents a 10% increase from 1997 use. The Wilderness Information Center recorded 10,688 visitors in 1998, a 7.6% gain. The staff encountered 2,844 hiking groups consisting of 7,395 hikers (ave. party size 2.60 persons) and 11 stock groups consisting of 28 users and 59 stock (ave. party size 5.4 stock). This equates to an average of 0.98 group/2.56 persons encountered in wilderness per hour, or 0.98 group/2.55 persons per mile.

The following tables show backcountry visitation. The first table is data from backcountry permits for the Stephen Mather Wilderness. The second table is from monthly use reports for all of the North Cascades National Park Service Complex.